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The history of the Chelsea Boot

There is something inherently satisfying about a blanket of Autumn leaves on the dewy ground, it is not merely an excuse to frolic through a field of nature’s firecrackers like a child, it is also the perfect opportunity to pull on those much loved Chelsea Boots.

I’m sure the majority of us have owned a variation of the Chelsea Boot at some point in our lives, they have been a staple of many iconic wardrobes for over a hundred years, but how much do we really know about these archetypal items of footwear?

Before they were a part of the Beat Generation sentimentality back in the 1960s, the Chelsea Boot was actually far less proletarian. Created in 1837 by Queen Victoria’s shoemaker J. Sparkes-Hall they were originally patented the Elastic Ankle Boot and were worn by Victoria herself for riding and walking.

Towards the 1940s this elasticated boot had become a prominent style in the west and later due to it’s association with Kings Road in Chelsea the institutionalised term Chelsea Boot was coined.

When Paul McCartney and John Lennon saw the boot in the window of Anello and Davide they commissioned four boots to be made with Cuban heels and the Beattle Boot was born.

The Chelsea boot, in all it’s modernised variations, are just as popular today as they were in the height of mod fashion and whether they be heeled, flat or spray painted white and worn by Storm Troopers (yes that happened in 1977) the Chelsea Boot is here to stay.